This article is from Issue 8, Called to be Witnesses
By A. B. Saint
“He that gathers in summer is a wise son,
but he that sleeps in harvest is a son that causes shame.”
(Proverbs 10: 5)
What powerful words! As in the natural so in the spiritual; those who make no provision reap no reward. The summer is the gathering time, those who do not reap for the Lord down here will have little stored away in heaven.
Jesus said: “The fields are white unto harvest, but the labourers are few.” There is a time for sowing but there is also a time for gathering, and did not Christ Himself give that great commission in Mark’s Gospel chapter 16 verse 15, when He said we were to go into all the world and preach the Gospel?
Although there are other Scriptures we could look at, I have chosen a bible reading taken from the book of Acts chapter 8 verses 26-40. The full title of this book is called The Acts of the Apostles; I prefer to call it the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the Apostles, for it is He who does the Work.
Without Him there would be no spiritual progress in anything, and this includes soul winning. Remember, Jesus said “Without Me you can do nothing.” Try as we may and though we may huff and puff and run here and there, and though we may have the greatest desire to want to get the job done, this will yield little, if any results at all, unless we are moving in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Even though the Lord has allowed our involvement in this business of winning souls to Christ it is not a human work but a Divine work. The Lord Jesus said: “No man can come to Me except the Father draw Him.” Thank God for His amazing drawing power.
In the book of Acts we read of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the membership of the Church, the oneness of believers, the persecution of those early believers and the guiding of the Holy Ghost in the organisation and selection of Church officers such as apostles, prophets, evangelists and so on, but although in that New Testament era not everyone held such an office, nevertheless every believer was looked upon as a soul-winner and these same truths carry the same message to us today.
PHILIP THE EVANGELIST
Now, the Philip that is referred to in our reading in the book of Acts is not Philip the Apostle, rather he is Philip the Evangelist. He was one of the seven deacons to which Acts 6: 1-6 refers. After the death of Stephen came great persecution and in Acts 8 verse 4 the bible tells us: “They that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the Word,” and in verse 5 we read: “Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ unto them.”
It was a time of great revival as people heard the Word of God and gave heed to its message. In fact, verse 8 goes on to say: “And there was great joy in that city.” It would seem strange that God should pull Philip away from such a harvest time as this, but He did and in verse 26 of our chapter Philip was to go on another assignment, this time unto Gaza which is desert. The reason for this change in events was an inquiring soul.
Philip’s life was a spirit filled life. When we consider the whole of a man’s lifetime from the cradle to the grave, we only have a couple of small cameo pictures of him, little studies from Scripture, but even in these it shows that he was a man of integrity and was open to the moving of the Spirit of God.
Praise God he was evangelistic at heart, and he was sensitive to the leading of the Spirit of God in his everyday life, we can see this even in the reading we have before us today.
He understood the necessity of knowing the direction and the guidance of the Holy Spirit and he was obedient to the voice of the Lord. In verse 26 of Acts chapter 8 we are told that the angel of the Lord spoke to him and directed him away from the scene of revival in Samaria unto a desert place called Gaza.
Because we know the end of the story and the reason he was called away it is easier for us to understand the situation, but at that moment in time Philip did not, but never once do we hear him questioning our Lord’s command.
The bible says: ‘he arose and went.’ Now let us be clear about this, sometimes soul winning can interrupt a busy schedule. We are in the middle of doing something else when the Lord reminds us to pray for someone or speak to someone about Him, and sometimes He takes us out of our own comfort zones and from the green oases of our own lives and leads us into the seemingly waterless, sandy, desert places.
AN INQUIRING SOUL
Gaza was the great trunk road which led from Egypt to Damascus. I never read the biblical account of this desert place and think of it as totally uninhabited with just an occasional howling beast or just a solitary reed or bush. Rather I view it as being a great caravan route used by such people as merchants wishing to sell their wares, or soldiers on military business and so on.
On this great highway was a man whom the bible refers to simply as the Ethiopian eunuch and he was making his way back home from a visit to the Temple in Jerusalem. He was no ordinary man, but a man of great authority. He served the Candace, or the queen of the Ethiopians. He was, though nameless to us, a very influential man and was none other than her Treasurer. Read it’s history and you will find the land from which he came in ancient times was highly developed.
The king was regarded as a god and therefore retired from public view, so active government devolved on the Queen Mother who always bore the title Candace. This was not her name but her ranking, her position in life.
Read about these women of high rank and you will find all her ministers were eunuchs and the most important of them all was the man in the chariot that day. Here was a man in charge of all Candace’s treasure, yet in his hand was an even greater treasure, a portion of the Scriptures and what a portion this was.
THE DIVINE MEETING
As Philip was making his way along the great highway awaiting his next instruction from the Lord, it would not be long before the Lord dove-tailed everything together and these two men from completely different worlds would meet.
In verse 29 of our chapter, the Spirit of God spoke to him and prepared him for the meeting. He said, “Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.” There is no confusion with God for He knows where the seekers are, and the bible says: “And Philip ran hither to him.”
Notice how readily Philip seizes the opportunity to serve and speak a word for the Master. He uses the vehicle supplied by the Lord to begin open discussion. For us it may be a park bench, a comfy seat in a coffee shop, a brief word to a colleague in the lunch break, a chat with someone in the shopping queue, a conversation with a stranger on the long journey home. We have to look out for every opportunity, the means by which the Holy Spirit can operate through us.
How will they hear the Gospel unless we draw near and yet so often we may draw back and let golden opportunities pass us by? A successful soul winner knows he has to make contact with his fellow man, and it is so much easier when God joins the dots. In the natural it is the easiest thing in the world to be put off by outward appearances or the possibility that there may be indifference or resistance towards spiritual things. Let not a person’s colour, character or creed put you off. When the Holy Spirit tells you to ‘go near’ don’t turn away.
It is clear that Philip had a love for souls as well as a love for God. Verse 30 tells us “And Philip ran thither to him.” So urgent was the voice within him, “go near, go near, go near.” The chariot was moving on, the wheels were rolling along, and if Philip did not make haste this chariot would have become merely a speck on the horizon leaving a missed opportunity behind. This was another reason Philip the evangelist needed to be filled with the Holy Spirit, it was for boldness.
Philip wasn’t only a good witness, but he was also a good listener. The bible tells how he ran towards the chariot and as he did so, he heard its occupant reading chapter 53 of the prophet Isaiah out loud and being led by the Spirit he asked the Ethiopian eunuch if he understood what he was reading.
“How can I except some man should guide me?” came the reply, and he asked Philip to join him and sit with him in his chariot and explain things to him. Philip opened up the conversation so easily and as the two of them travelled on together no time was wasted as Philip gladly preached unto him Jesus.
FISHERS OF MEN
This, friends, is the beginning and end of it all. No spiritual clichés or spiritual jargon is needed here, we are not to blind them with science as it were, our job is just to point to Christ and remember that successful soul winning takes time.
Consider again how the evangelist sat with him and remember that we cannot hurry a soul into heaven. Think of how Christ Himself sat on the well as He spoke to the woman of Samaria. Recall how the missionaries sat by the riverside and spoke to those assembled there. Soul winning should never be a hurried occupation.
The successful soul winner must have knowledge of the Scriptures. We cannot give what we do not have nor impart what we do not know. We must ourselves have truly understood the Gospel story, we must ourselves perfectly know the way of Salvation and that it is only through Christ Jesus, and we must have ourselves entered into this Way before we can honestly witness to others.
Does this mean that we are all to be theologians or to hold a university degree to preach Jesus? No, else this would mean far fewer people would be preaching the Gospel on this earth today than there are.
In verse 35 we see that Philip was required to just ‘open his mouth,’ and when he did he never spoke about himself to this man, neither did he elaborate on the revival in Samaria and tell how that he was hand-picked for the job. Philip opened his mouth. Why do we sometimes not open ours?
I love the opening few words in verse 36 which say: “And as they went on their way they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, “See here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?” The successful soul winner does not leave the new convert to paddle his own canoe. They go on together. Someone must show the way to both necessary and deeper Christian experiences.
The command was given in verse 38 for the chariot to ‘stand still.’ This is a great verse which ever speaks to me whenever I read it of those moments in life when other things less important must come to a halt, those times when we must press the pause button. Spiritual things always must come before natural things. The account goes on to say that they both went down into the water and the Ethiopian eunuch was baptised by Philip.
Have you noticed in this story how that the Gospel cuts across everything? These two men were so different, the prime minister and the evangelist, the family man and the eunuch, yet God brought them both together and the end of the story tells us how that Philip had other work to do in proclaiming the Gospel in other places and the eunuch went on his way rejoicing.
In closing, the labourer knows that he is only a tool. The eunuch did not owe his salvation to Philip, but to Christ. It was the Lord who saw into his heart. It was God who sent someone to help him in his quest. It was the Lord who opened his eyes, and it was the Lord alone who saved him Remember, He that wins souls is wise!
(Proverbs 11: 30)
Taken from Life on the Altar Publication
Issue 8 Spring 2023
LIFE ON THE ALTAR 